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Interesting that "no creditors" were opposed, I wonder if he included the landlords. Having said that, they may have decided better to get the lower rent than have the store shutdown.

This is very much targeted at unrealistic rents. B&Q is set up as a separate limited company in Ireland so examinership is an option. Don't think it is an option for a branch (open to correction). Nice to see Landlords over a barrel. Just a pity as gd implies that the government were not at the forefront of this. Lower rents for the likes of B&Q and many others is part of the rebalancing of costs in our expensive little country.

It seems to work for larger companies, I'm not sure it will work for an individual shopkeeper.

I suspect it's not cheap but the payoff for the larger retailer makes it worth it. The difficulty for smaller retailers is there are probably personal guarantees in relation to rent which undoes the limited liability of the business.

I'm no supporter of landlords - but it needs to be pointed out that, for example, a lot of pension funds invest their cash in property/land.
Companies like Irish Life and Aviva will make such investment decisions on the basis of rent return.

The rent/lease roll from these investments help feed returns for those pension/wealth funds.

Did I get it right, B&Q are closing 2 branches and seeking rent downwards reviews for two more. Would actually love to know who exactly are the landlords for the 6 branches they have

They want to close Waterford and Athlone. As GD points out many of the Landlords are pension companies. Rents in Ireland need to come down and it will happen over time. As new leases are issued they will be at lower rents than old ones. Old leases will expire. Most are 20 years these days (used to be 35 years) and many have break clauses. It's a bit like everything else here we keep delaying taking the hits that will eventually have to be taken.

The knock on effect of closing Athlone and Waterford is competitors will pick up the business of the closed stores so Woodies will benefit there which will help their survival chances.

I'm no supporter of landlords - but it needs to be pointed out that, for example, a lot of pension funds invest their cash in property/land.
Companies like Irish Life and Aviva will make such investment decisions on the basis of rent return.

The rent/lease roll from these investments help feed returns for those pension/wealth funds.

That is probably the real reason why the government has not tried to introduce legislation to invalidate those contracts of rent.